The previous iPod touch had the sensor, but the newest version does not.

Apple Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller says the new iPod touch is just too thin for an ambient light sensor. That's according to a purported e-mail exchange between Schiller and an inquiring iPod touch owner, as posted to iDownloadBlog. In the exchange, Schiller reiterates (in marketing speak) what those of us who have seen the iPod touch teardowns already know: space is tight, and Apple simply chose not to include the sensor.

When we reviewed the fifth-generation iPod touch, we pointed out the mysterious lack of an ambient light sensor—and as such, no auto-brightness setting. It's unlikely to be a dealbreaker for many iPod touch users, but because the sensor was present in the fourth-generation iPod touch, and because the device so closely mirrors the iPhone and iPad, the sensor's absence generated some questions among current and potential iPod touch owners. That's what caused one iPod touch owner, Raghid Harake, to write an e-mail to Schiller inquiring about the lack of an auto-brightness setting, to which Schiller replied (in part):

"Thank you for purchasing a new iPod touch. It is a remarkable device! The 5th generation iPod touch does not have a built-in automatic light sensor (it's just too thin!)"

Indeed, the fifth-gen iPod touch is impressively thin, though some would argue that Apple could have made concessions in order to include the sensor if it was a high enough priority. Our own Andrew Cunningham told me the sensor's absence in the new iPod touch is "bothersome" because of the behavior he's used to seeing from the previous generation of the device, but he said that it's not enough to make him return it.

59 Reader Comments

The light sensor in the older model never worked that well. Its not that big of a deal. My feeling is that it was more about costs then space. Apple loves to make you think they are trying so hard. But in reality they are simply trying to make a buck like every other business. Needless to say they make a pretty good buck on all the Apple fans.

I, for one, am glad they excluded it. The sensors never work property, and I always disable them, favoring the Jailbreak SBSettings' brightness shortcut. Then there's the triple-tap-home-button to dim to lowest setting (Activator).

Bit of a bummer, I can't say I always agree with Apple's priorities (although they are at least pretty clear on them). If it gets jailbroken though this issue would be somewhat alleviated. Various utilities like Swipebright already exist to make manual adjustment much faster and more convenient, and if the need exists the front camera could be queried to make that process automatic. Polling the front camera too often would probably consume more battery power, but it seems like a happy medium might exist. It'd be worth testing.

Apple loves to make you think they are trying so hard. But in reality they are simply trying to make a buck like every other business.

??? How is that mutually exclusive? Trying really hard to bring provide the best product they can make is exactly how they are trying very hard to ‘simply make a buck’. Of course part of the “best product” is price but freakishly thin is actually a very nice feature. There are plenty of ways to shave off manufacturing costs that are counter to the miniaturization Apple has pushed. So if the priority was on shipping cheaply made product [and keeping the money themselves] then removing auto-dimming would be well down the list.

I think we've long passed a point of diminishing returns for thinness in smartphones & PMPs. The iPhone5 and the latest iPod Touch could easily be 2x as thick without significantly altering the ergonomics. Even assuming that it's 2x as heavy. The obsession with thinness really boggles my mind. Like with Android manufacturers' obsession with creating XBOX HUEG 4.6"+ phones. I just want something that's comfortable in my hand and with the functions one would expect in 2012, not something that's thin or wide purely for the sake of bragging rights.

When I had an iPod Touch, I found the ambient light sensor to be worthless at the task it was assigned to. I usually set the brightness manually most of the time, depending on the environment I was in.

Though, I'd imagine it's weird not to see that little brownish grey hole after seeing it gen after gen...

That said, the only thing the autobrightness is good for is going from inside lighting to outside lighting. They could at least add a brightness shortcut on something other than the iPad. Perhaps double tap home, swipe past the rotation-lock/music controls, swipe past the volume, and it's brightness (or somehow squeeze the volume and brightness on one area)

I wish they'd remove it from the iPhone for more camera sensor room, or battery. The light sensor is absolutely too flaky for dependable use anyway. Have to agree with several posters here on that point.

Anyone contact the folks at iFixit on this one? How "thick" is the ambient light sensor?

Because I'm calling bullshit on pretty much anything Phil Schiller says...he tends to exaggerate...a lot. (This is the man that said wireless charging is pointless because you still need to plug something in anyhow...uh, duuuhhhh.)

I'll be honest, while there obviously is a point of diminishing returns on making things thinner, this is a concession I'm perfectly ok with. I may be the odd one out on this, but I actually disable that feature on all of my devices anyways. I like to keep the brightness up all the way.

While losing the sensor is an adjustment seeing as the previous model of course had one, I think it's a sacrifice most people either won't notice, or won't be bothered by. It's mostly just change, not a problem. Better the other updated components and no sensor right?

I know the sensor doesn't directly work awesome on the 4th gen (got one) but they should improve it instead and made the iPod thicker and with that extra space they could add something like you know more battery or storage space...(or micro SD slot, I know it's a joke suggesting it but still)

What they could do with it is make it a decent all round surf/music/vid/game/photo toy witch they are close to but super thin does worsen the battery time (compared to what it could be...)

I know the sensor doesn’t directly work awesome on the 4th gen (got one) but they should improve it instead…

They did improve the auto-dimmer marginally on the iPhone 4S via software with iOS 6. I tried it and found it better, in my subjective opinion. I don’t know if it helped the 4G iPod (I don’t use the ones in the house often enough to say). But I still turned it off again as while it might seem like a good idea I’m not convinced there is an actual use [that suits me] to be found.

If that sentiment was fairly widespread that is exactly when will Apple will put something on the feature chop-block.

I think we've long passed a point of diminishing returns for thinness in smartphones & PMPs. The iPhone5 and the latest iPod Touch could easily be 2x as thick without significantly altering the ergonomics. Even assuming that it's 2x as heavy. The obsession with thinness really boggles my mind. Like with Android manufacturers' obsession with creating XBOX HUEG 4.6"+ phones. I just want something that's comfortable in my hand and with the functions one would expect in 2012, not something that's thin or wide purely for the sake of bragging rights.

Says you! I would have bought an iPhone 4S, at about 10mm, over an iPhone 5 at 16mm.

The point is ergonomics. Too bulky and it actually stops being pleasant to use.

I just don't understand. The iPod touch 5 does have ambient light sensors. They are called cameras and the iPod Touch 5th generation has both front and rear. Couldn't they be used to sense ambient light via software to auto-adjust the screen brightness?

Says you! I would have bought an iPhone 4S, at about 10mm, over an iPhone 5 at 16mm.

The point is ergonomics. Too bulky and it actually stops being pleasant to use.

Indeed, months before the iPhone 5 came out I kept thinking that the 4S just felt clunky heavy.

It is the same reason why I was somewhat disappointed with the last iPad. The screen is great and all but ugh, that extra weight has me torn between it and the iPad 2. Even the relative small amount of extra weight, a small percentage increase, is very noticeable.

That's what is called a "plausible" lie. Just make up something most people may believe, tie it to that trolley and let it roll down the tracks.

At only 6.1mm thick, the Touch really doesn't have the room for the ambient light sensor.

Sure, with a little rejiggering and a fraction of a mm extra thickness they could have worked it in.

Do you really think people care enough that they would make a 6.2mm iPod touch so they could advertise it's ambient light sensor? For that extra 0.1mm they could have just put in a slightly larger battery instead and still omitted the ambient light sensor, with the gain in battery life offsetting the decrease in battery life by having the brightness auto-compensate anyway.

Surely it's more accurate to say form over function since the design would also incorporate the function?

I suppose though so long as the battery is good enough to power the display when bright this doesn't matter too much however I'd have been willing to make it a little thicker and have some more battery and this sensor in - I know I always use auto brightness on my smartphone so I don't have to keep adjusting it (actually there was an exception when I owned a Galaxy Note but that was more because the battery wasn't up to powering the huge screen for a reasonable period of time so I kept the brightness lowish).

Says you! I would have bought an iPhone 4S, at about 10mm, over an iPhone 5 at 16mm.

The point is ergonomics. Too bulky and it actually stops being pleasant to use.

Indeed, months before the iPhone 5 came out I kept thinking that the 4S just felt clunky heavy.

It is the same reason why I was somewhat disappointed with the last iPad. The screen is great and all but ugh, that extra weight has me torn between it and the iPad 2. Even the relative small amount of extra weight, a small percentage increase, is very noticeable.

I think we've long passed a point of diminishing returns for thinness in smartphones & PMPs. The iPhone5 and the latest iPod Touch could easily be 2x as thick without significantly altering the ergonomics. Even assuming that it's 2x as heavy. The obsession with thinness really boggles my mind. Like with Android manufacturers' obsession with creating XBOX HUEG 4.6"+ phones. I just want something that's comfortable in my hand and with the functions one would expect in 2012, not something that's thin or wide purely for the sake of bragging rights.

While I agree that we are past the point of a device being a little thinner being a big deal, I don't think android screen size is the same thing; I really like having a phone that is about as large as it can be while still fitting comfortably in my pocket. The larger screen makes it hugely more useful for reading, reducing my need to carry a separate e reader or tablet. (I use a Galaxy Nexus and love it, 4.65" I think.)

As long as we don't get to the point where no decent new phones are 4" or smaller, I think going bigger is great!

I just don't understand. The iPod touch 5 does have ambient light sensors. They are called cameras and the iPod Touch 5th generation has both front and rear. Couldn't they be used to sense ambient light via software to auto-adjust the screen brightness?

Cameras have to be powered up to be of use. The previous ambient light sensor could be more or less passive. Really, if Apple really cared, they could engineer an ambient light sensor of the appropriate size. It will likely reappear once the constraints on the iPhone make the effort necessary.

I miss the "snoring" light on iMacs much more than I would ever miss this.

I think we've long passed a point of diminishing returns for thinness in smartphones & PMPs. The iPhone5 and the latest iPod Touch could easily be 2x as thick without significantly altering the ergonomics. Even assuming that it's 2x as heavy. The obsession with thinness really boggles my mind. Like with Android manufacturers' obsession with creating XBOX HUEG 4.6"+ phones. I just want something that's comfortable in my hand and with the functions one would expect in 2012, not something that's thin or wide purely for the sake of bragging rights.

I'd have to agree here. I believe one Apple exec, could be Schiller, said in reference to the iPhone 5 that they took a pass on wireless charging because it would add thickness.

I've got an ancient "thick" EVO 4G, and I've never said to myself "If only this was 3mm thinner". However, I would think it was pretty cool if I could charge my phone by tossing it on a mat. Once you reach a certain point, thinness isn't a feature, and dropping other features to constantly chase it seems silly. If these devices get worse battery life because the ambient sensor was dropped instead of being improved, that's a net loss IMHO.

Funny, the light sensor mostly works out well for me. With auto-brightness, the usual GUI stuff and reading webpages is hardly a thing to think about, but I often bump up the brightness for watching videos. Following fast, car-chasey action is hard to do with the same brightness set as that for comfortable reading.

Meh, who cares? I've had an iPhone from the beginning. First thing I did was disable the auto brightness. Every Apple device I've owned that has had an ambient light sensor has had it disabled. Should be disabled by default.